Shadows of Yesterday
by Nightsailer
Summary: Sei and Kira are a lot alike...except Sei is dead. But when he starts to communicate through Kira, things get rough for Rei-literally. Can he save Kira from her mind tormentor AND hold onto his OWN life?
1. Connection

Yay for Mars fic! ^.^ Hope you like it. R&R, please!

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Kira watched the teenager on the roof in horror. "Rei!" She shouted. "Get down from there!" She wanted to run to him, but her feet were frozen in place by some invisible ice. Why was he doing this?! Why was he going to commit suicide?!

Rei stood on the edge of the building. The wind whipped his shaggy blond hair and rustled his scarf as he looked down at the street below. Then he turned to Kira, his face soft but cold at the same time.

"I am not Rei," he said quietly. Then he laughed. "Although I'm quite sure that you would like that, wouldn't you, Kira Aso? Rei is your everything. . .the very essence of your life. It doesn't matter about some dead apparition like me. . ."

". . .Sei. . .?" Kira wondered. The boy nodded. Then he leaned forward, body seeming to fold into the wind. Kira gasped. "NO SEI! DON'T! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

His foot caught on the ledge, just keeping him from tumbling to his death far below. He leered at her, his cold blue eyes that were so familiar taunting her fear.

"Oh, I don't?" The scarf he had been wearing fell the 30 stories to the ground, getting swept away by the traffic. "I think I know exactly what I'm doing. The world doesn't need another Rei," he spat. He turned back to the open air. "Especially not an evil one. I will leave Rei with the perfect wound. To remind him. . .that I am waiting for him. . .in _hell._" Then he stepped forward into nothingness.

_". . .I'll keep in contact through you, Kira Aso. . .for you have the same spirit as I."_

~*~

Kira woke, gasping and clutching at her loose nightgown. She felt frantically for Rei, her husband of three years. He moaned and brushed her hand away, muttering "It's three in the morning. . .we did it before bed. . ."

"It's not that, Rei!" She shook him with all the strength her thin arms could muster. Exasperated and scared, she leaned down and spoke right into his ear. "I dreamed about Sei."

Abruptly he was wide awake. "You what?!" He demanded, brushing his blond hair out of his eyes. "What did you dream about Sei?!"

Kira shrank back at the look in his eyes, but then gulped and continued. "I dreamed of the day. . .of the day he committed suicide." She hid her face in her hands. "Oh, Rei, it was horrible! He was on the edge of a building. . .and he said he was leaving you the perfect wound -" She clamped a hand over her mouth. She had sworn secrecy against revealing what Sei had said in his suicide note, which had been carefully sealed away in his room down the hall. _Well at least I know it wasn't completely out of the blue. . ._

Rei gave her a strange look. "The perfect wound?"

Kira shook her head violently. "No, sorry. That's not what he said," she lied. "He said. . .uh. . .oh I can't remember!" Tears streamed down her pale cheeks in torrents.

Sighing, Rei drew her forward into a tight embrace. "Shh. . .it's ok, you don't have to tell me. Suicide is a hard thing to witness, Kira, even in a dream." He rocked her slightly, then said in a voice that was barely a whisper, "believe me, I know."

Kira buried her face into his chest. "It must have been horrible to witness it for real. . ."

"Don't talk about that."

Kira took the warning and was silent. Slowly her tears subsided, and Rei released her.

"Now try to get some sleep. It was just a nightmare; it will go away." He turned over and was asleep in seconds.

Kira, on the other hand, laid awake, staring up at the ceiling. _How creepy. . ._she thought. _I wonder if that's what the real suicide was like? Or did I just imagine it? Oh God, I hope I imagined it. . .and what did Sei mean by he was going to keep in touch through me? This is so weird. . ._ She felt her eyelids drooping and sleep coming to claim her consciousness. As her eyes slid shut, she thought she heard laughter coming from Sei's room.

_"That's it, Kira Aso, just keep pretending I'm not real. See where it gets you."_

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Didya like it? R&R plz!!!


	2. Broken Glass

YAY FUN! ^_^ This chappie gets a little creepy, so be forewarned! R&R!!

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"Rei, I really wish you wouldn't ride that thing. After all, it's going to be your first day taking over for your father. . ."

"So what? He's the one retiring, and he's also the one who made the mistake of making me his successor. So I say he's gotta take what he's got and run with it."

Kira's eyes fluttered open, the sudden exchange from downstairs stirring her from her uneasy sleep. She sleepily turned and glanced at the clock.

_5:30?!_ She sat bolt upright. _What the heck is Rei doing up at 5:30? He only went to bed around 1! _Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, the blond artist threw on her robe and charged down the steps. "Rei! Rei, you can't ride your motorcycle on 4 hours of sleep!" She turned the corner into the kitchen to find only her father-in-law's secretary, who had come to help the young protégé on the first day on the job.

"Good morning, Kira," she said brightly. "Sorry, but Rei just left. Was it important?"

"I'm gonna try to catch him before-" The sound of a motorcycle rumbled to life outside, and Rei was speeding off down the street. "-he leaves," she finished sullenly.

"What did you need him for?"

"I wanted to tell him that 4 hours of sleep wasn't nearly enough for a safe ride. But it's a little late now, wouldn't you say?" She added dryly.

The secretary chuckled. "If I know that boy, he'll get there safely with time to spare. He could win a race without sleeping in a week, if he had to."

Kira laughed. "Let's just hope he never does." Nodding a goodbye, she walked back upstairs to her and Rei's room. Her footsteps fell lightly in the mammoth hallway, emphasizing the overall size of the structure. She opened the door to her room.

_Crash._

"Huh?" Kira turned, letting go of the ornate doorknob. The sound had come from the dark room down the hall. Sei's room.

"What the heck. . .?" The blond girl stared at the closed door. She had sworn never to go into it again after finding the suicide note, but the crash had perked her interest, however fearfully. As if drawn by some invisible force, Kira walked the fifty yards to the ordinary brown door. Reaching out, she took the handle that looked as familiar as all the others in the mansion. She took a deep breath and turned it. The door creaked open, and a waft of oily, paint-laden air escaped. It felt like opening a crypt.

Blond paintings stared at her from every direction, leering at her behind smiling eyes. She ignored them, looking for the source of the noise.

Across the room, a canvas had fallen from the stack that reached halfway up the wall. Dust still swirled in the air from where it had hit the floor; the floor that hadn't been walked on since the teenager had taken his own life.

Kira sighed in relief. The paintings had always been precariously balanced, and one had just finally fallen. She laughed at her own fears. _What was I expecting? Some ghost?_ Still chuckling to herself, she walked over to retrieve the artwork.

_What's this?_

It wasn't a painting that had fallen. It was a mirror that had been hanging above the pile. Its surface was now shattered from its fall, ornate cracks spreading spidery fingers across the shining surface. _Crap!_ She thought _Man, I hope this wasn't worth anything. . ._

She tried to assess the damage, but the only light came from the hall. Tucking the mirror under her arm, she went to flip the lightswitch.

The lights sputtered to life, not used to being used after so long. Kira sat down on the floor and examined the mirror.

"This looks expensive. . ." She fretted, running her fingers along the broken glass. [Author's note: Stupid of her, no?] "Ow!" An edge of the glass caught her skin, drawing a drop of blood. She stared at it as it cascaded across her finger and fell to the mirror.

"Crap!" Shirt tail already in hand, she leaned over to wipe it up. Then she froze.

A young boy of about 14 stared back at her from behind the shattered mirror.


	3. Truth

Sorry it took so long to update. The stupid site wouldn't let me log on till a little while ago…. Then I kinda forgot. So yeah here it is. Please review!!!

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Kira stared at the face in the mirror. It leered right back at her, cold lifeless eyes taunting her fear.

"R…Rei!" Kira scrambled back from the mirror. Her hand desperately searched for the doorknob. When she found it, though, it was locked…from the outside.

She jumped to her feet and started pounding on the wide mahogany door. "Someone please let me out!" Behind her the mirror still lay on the floor, broken glass shimmering in the flickering light. Even though she couldn't see the reflection from where she was standing, she still eyed it with terror. Blood from her fingertip squeezed onto the doorknob as she frantically turned it this way and that.

"Please, open!" She whispered fervently. "Someone help me!"

_"No one is going to help you, Kira. Just as no one helped me."_

The blond girl whirled around, pressing her back to the door. "Who's there?!"

The blood on the mirror shimmered then seeped into the depths of the surface. Cracks where it had broken disappeared.

_"Come closer, Kira. Look what I have become."_

"Leave me alone!" She cried. Once again she rattled the door, but to no avail.

_"You'll never get out if I don't want you to. Just come look, and I'll let you out."_

Kira turned slowly. "All…Alright. But you'd better let me out!"

The voice laughed. _"If you're going to serve as my connection to Rei, then why would I keep you locked up in this room? I have a message for Rei."_

"Message?" Kira took small steps toward the mirror. "Why would you have a message for Rei?"

_"Why wouldn't I want to commune with my brother?"_

"SEI?!" She screamed. She ran over and threw herself on the ground before the mirror. "But you're dead!"

The pale blond boy stared back at her once again, but she could see the familiar features clearer now that the cracks had gone. It was the face she had come to know only through the paintings on the wall, but she knew it all the same. The face whose hatred for the world was carefully concealed behind smiling blue eyes.

_"It is true, I am no longer among the living; and by my own choice. However, Rei is quickly becoming the killer I wanted him to be."_

"No!!" Kira grasped the mirror tightly, glaring intently at the calm, cruel eyes leering back at her. "Rei would never kill anyone!"

Sei laughed. _"Foolish girl. Just how long does Rei think he can keep you in the dark?"_

"Listen, you!" Kira shouted. Her own boldness surprised her, but she pressed on, determined to defend Rei. "Rei may be violent, but he would never kill anyone!"

_"I can show you otherwise. Touch the bloodstain, Kira, and I will show you…everything."_

Her blue eyes slowly traveled across the mirror. "I don't see any-" Then her gaze fell upon the left side of the frame. Crimson splashed the woodwork, painting it a warped, sickly brown. "What the…?" She gasped.

_"Touch it. Touch it, and I'll show you who Rei really is."_

Kira hesitated, then placed her hand on the stain. Then her world collapsed.

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Yeah sorry this was kinda short…R&R!!


	4. Gunshot

"Where are you taking me?!" Kira screeched into the blackness. The lack of sight was disorienting, not to mention downright petrifying. Her eyes sought any source of light at all, but to no avail.

_"I'm taking you where I said I would. Back to see who Rei really is. Weren't you listening?"_

"Yes, but you said that you were just going to _show_ me!" Her head jerked back and forth, still searching for something to focus on.

_"What better way to show someone then to have them live it?"_

"What do you- AGH!!" A sudden burst of light blinded her. She threw her arms up to shield her burning eyes, blinking furiously to rid herself of the backflashes that swam across her vision.

_"Welcome to LA, seven years ago."_

Kira's eyes adjusted to the light, so she lowered her arm and took a look around. "This…This is Los Angeles?" Awe and wonder sent a tremor through her voice as she stared up at the skyscrapers of one of the best known cities in the world. People walked around her, across from her…and even THROUGH her. She gasped as a man stopped right where she stood, lighting up a cigarette before moving to cross the street.

_"What's wrong? Of course they can walk through you; we're not here. This is just an illusion that's made to look as real as it possibly can."_

"I kinda figured that," Kira muttered, moving over to press herself against a building to avoid having to share the same space again. Unfortunately, she fell right through the bricks. "Whoa!!"

_"Let's hurry. I didn't bring you here to gawk at the city." _Abruptly the scenery changed from a busy downtown street to a school campus. The time read 12:23, and Kira could see students in the building through the freshly cleaned windows. "So what's all this supposed to mean?" She craned her neck to see into the windows a little clearer.

_"Not that way, idiot! Look over to your right."_

Kira turned her head to look where he had directed, and gasped yet again at what she saw.

Two young men, both identical, stood at the corner of the schoolyard. On a second glance, though, Kira could make out that there were a few more students there as well. "What's going on…?"

_"I'll take you a little closer." _Everything blurred for a moment, then the next thing she knew she was standing no more than five feet away from the group at the edge of the grounds.

Now that she was closer to them, Kira could guess at what was happening. One of the blond boys…was it Rei or Sei? …was standing back, clutching himself and looking on in terror. _That has to be Sei,_ Kira confirmed to herself. _But why's he acting like that? _Her eyes traveled over to what had to be Rei. "Oh my God…"

Rei's hand clutched a gun, pointing it directly at one of the students' head. "You will not intimidate my brother again," he said in a low, monotone voice.

"Dude, I'm sorry! Please put that gun down! I won't do it again, I swear it!" The student eyed the gun fearfully, especially the finger on the trigger. He was visibly trembling from head to foot.

A smirk tickled Rei's lips as he pressed the gun harder against the boy's head. "I know you won't. I am going to make sure of it." His finger started to tighten on the trigger.

"No, Rei don't!" Kira screamed, just as the Sei from the past shouted it as well. She blinked, confused, then watched as Sei ran up to his brother and threw his arms around him.

"Don't kill him, Rei! I don't want you to be charged with another murder!" Tears spilled over down the young blond's cheeks and soaked into Rei's jacket. "Please don't!"

Rei faltered a bit, then slowly took the gun away from his classmate's head. The boy immediately scrambled backwards a few feet. His friends grabbed his arms and pulled him further away, still watching Rei fearfully.

"Damn you and your righteousness," Rei muttered. Then he turned and fired a shot a bullet through the window of the school, hitting a student in the arm. The student buckled and fell to the ground. Rei smirked in satisfaction. "Next time, that'll be you; except it will be your heart."

The boy nodded furiously and got up, running as fast as he could to get away from the teen who still held the smoking gun. Rei's cold blue eyes followed him. Then he raised the gun and fired it once, letting the bullet whiz past the boy's ear.

Kira stood glued to the spot. Shock had set upon her like frost on a field.

…That bullet had passed right through her head.

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Yeah, sorry that took so long to update. Thanks to all my readers, I love ya! ^_^ R&R!


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